Servers'How To' Series (Part 3): Computer Management Console

‘How To’ Series (Part 3): Computer Management Console

ServerWatch content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.




Christopher Rice

          First of
all, I’d like to extend a note of gratitude for all of the firemen and policemen
who gave their lives for our country.  Being a New Yorker, the events of the last week have hit
pretty hard for me personally.  It makes life tough to go back to any normal routine. 
But, we must, so here goes.

First of all, I’d like to extend a note of gratitude for all of the firemen and policemen who gave their lives for our country. Being a New Yorker, the events of the last week have hit pretty hard for me personally. It makes life tough to go back to any normal routine. But, we must, so here goes.

The next in my ongoing series of ‘How To’ articles will take a look at the Computer Management Console and the functionality contained therein.

          The next
in my ongoing series of “How To” articles will take a look at the Computer
Management Console and the functionality contained therein.  

          To begin
with, I would like to make you familiar with the MMC, the Microsoft Management
Console.  This is new technology that was released in the later SPs for NT
4 and the SE of 98.  Basically, this technology allows for Snap-Ins to be
molded and controlled by a central person or persons.

          For
example, if you were a member of my administration team and I wanted you to
monitor Performance Monitor and the Event Viewers, I could create a snap-in that
would allow for just those views and send it to you in an e-mail.  For more
information on either Performance Monitor or Event Viewers, see the first two of
my articles in this series at the following links:

https://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/2178431

https://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/2178481

          This is
great technology, in my opinion, and MSFT has spread it across their product
lines.  I don’t think it ill be so prevalent later in life, but now you can
see it in other products such as the SMS 2.0 product.

          One of
the MMC’s that we are provided with out of the box with Windows 2000 is the
Computer Management Console.  If you go into the Administrative Tools icon
in the Control Panel and select Computer Management, you will see the following:

          You will
undoubtedly notice some overlay and repetition from the other tools that we have
discussed.  Notice the Event Viewers and Performance Monitor are presented
for access from this MMC as well.  Keep in mind that this MMC can be edited
or a new one can be created that will leave those out (if you
desire).  

     

  The most important functions here (aside from the Perf Mon and
Event) are the Device Manager and the Disk Management function.  One could
argue for the Users and Group, but this is not the place to be dealing with those
on a large scale anyway, since you should be running AD, right?

         
The first of these is the Device Manager, this tool allows you to manage all of
the Devices that are running on or attached to this machine.  It looks like
the following:

As you can see, there are plenty of options to get into
here.  When you double click on any one of the specific devices, you will
get another pop-up window that will allow you all new access and information for
this device.  This will look like the following:

This window provides you with the mechanisms to view this
information, troubleshoot the device, get information regarding the driver,
update the driver, Enable or Disable the device, etc.  This is a great
function to manage the hardware related to the machine that you ar eworking
with.

          The next
of the most important functions is the Disk Management folder display. 
When you highlight this, it will take a few seconds to load your information,
but will then present you with a display like the following:

From here you will be able to work with each of your partitions
and get more information regarding how this was set up.  To get the options
for editing your setup, right click on the partition that you want to work with
and drop down to whatever function you want to perform.  For example, if
you want to format a partition, select Format from the drop down menu, and you will be
presented with a small information window like the following:

Here, you have the ability to make your changes.  There are
other functions aside from Formatting that you will be able to do, but heed the
warnings that are presented, as making changes here can effect the data that you
have on your drives.

          This
Console takes a bit of getting used to but is quite useful once you get the hang of it.  Feel free to mail me with any
questions or ideas about future “How To” articles that might interest
you.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

Latest Posts

Related Stories